State Exams Previous Year GK Questions with Answers

The correct answer is C, Atharvaveda. The Atharvaveda calls the Sabha and the Samiti the two daughters of Prajapati, which shows that they were seen as two separate popular bodies. The Sabha was a smaller council of elders and nobles that also did judicial work, while the Samiti was a larger assembly of the common people that discussed policy and could even have a say in choosing the king. Both are first named in the Rigveda, but it is the Atharvaveda that sets them apart and says the king needs their support to rule well. Together with the Vidatha and the Gana, they were the tribal assemblies of the Vedic age. Option A is wrong because the Rigveda mentions both bodies but does not present them as twin institutions. Option B is wrong because the Samaveda is a book of chants set to music for rituals. Option D is wrong because the Yajurveda deals with the rules and formulas of sacrifice. Exam tip: Sabha and Samiti, the two daughters of Prajapati, in the Atharvaveda.

The correct answer is A, 12 and 63. Tradition counts 12 Alvars, the Vaishnava saint-poets devoted to Vishnu, and 63 Nayanars, the Shaiva saints devoted to Shiva, both from the Tamil country. Between about the 6th and 9th centuries these saints sang in Tamil rather than Sanskrit, travelled from temple to temple and welcomed devotees of every caste, laying the base of the Bhakti movement in South India. The hymns of the Alvars were collected in the Nalayira Divya Prabandham, and those of the Nayanars in the Tevaram, part of the Tirumurai. Andal was the only woman among the Alvars, while Karaikkal Ammaiyar is the best-known woman among the Nayanars. Option B is wrong because it cuts the Nayanar count to 53. Option C is wrong because it raises the Alvar count to 23. Option D is wrong because both of its numbers are wrong. Exam tip: 12 Alvars for Vishnu, 63 Nayanars for Shiva, and Andal the lone woman Alvar.

The correct answer is D, Satara. Satara was the first state annexed under Lord Dalhousie’s Doctrine of Lapse, in 1848. Under this policy, if the ruler of a dependent state died without a natural male heir, the state lapsed to the East India Company, and an adopted son could not inherit the throne. Dalhousie, Governor-General from 1848 to 1856, used it to take Satara (1848), Jaitpur and Sambalpur (1849), Baghat (1850), Udaipur in Chhattisgarh (1852), Jhansi (1853) and Nagpur (1854). The anger it caused among rulers such as Rani Lakshmibai of Jhansi fed directly into the revolt of 1857. Option A is wrong because Jaitpur was annexed in 1849, a year after Satara. Option B is wrong because Sambalpur was also taken in 1849. Option C is wrong because Jhansi was annexed in 1853, when the Company refused to recognise the adopted son of Raja Gangadhar Rao. Exam tip: the lapse list runs Satara 1848, Jaitpur and Sambalpur 1849, Jhansi 1853, Nagpur 1854.

The correct answer is D, The Dandi March by Mahatma Gandhi. On the morning of 6 April 1930 Gandhi picked up a lump of natural salt on the beach at Dandi and broke the salt law, and with that the Civil Disobedience Movement began. He had set out from Sabarmati Ashram on 12 March 1930 with 78 chosen followers and walked about 240 miles in 24 days, reaching Dandi on the Gujarat coast on 5 April. Salt was chosen because the salt tax hit every Indian, rich or poor, so one small act turned into a protest across the whole country. Option A is wrong because the Quit India Movement began in August 1942, after the Congress resolution of 8 August. Option B is wrong because Lord Curzon’s Partition of Bengal took effect on 16 October 1905. Option C is wrong because the Jallianwala Bagh massacre took place in Amritsar on 13 April 1919. Exam tip: Dandi March from 12 March to 5 April 1930, salt law broken on 6 April 1930.

The correct answer is B, Surat. The Congress split into Moderates and Extremists at its Surat session of December 1907. The two groups had clashed over the choice of president and over how far to push the Swadeshi and boycott programme started after the Partition of Bengal in 1905. The Moderates, led by Pherozeshah Mehta and Gopal Krishna Gokhale, backed Rash Behari Ghosh as president, while the Extremists, led by Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Lala Lajpat Rai and Bipin Chandra Pal, wanted to keep the stronger resolutions of 1906. The session broke up in chaos, and the Extremists returned only at the Lucknow session of 1916. Option A is wrong because Bombay hosted the first session in 1885, not the split. Option C is wrong because the Calcutta session of 1906 under Dadabhai Naoroji avoided a split and first adopted the goal of Swaraj. Option D is wrong because the Nagpur session of 1920 approved the Non-Cooperation programme. Exam tip: Surat 1907 split, Lucknow 1916 reunion, with Tilak at the centre of both.

The correct answer is A, Nahar Singh. Raja Nahar Singh was the last ruler of Ballabhgarh, a small Jat state in what is now Faridabad district of Haryana, just south of Delhi. During the revolt of 1857 he sided with the rebels and with the Mughal emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar. After the British recaptured Delhi, he was arrested and tried, and he was hanged at Chandni Chowk in Delhi on 9 January 1858; his state was then annexed. Faridabad still remembers him, as its cricket stadium and the Delhi Metro station at Ballabhgarh carry his name. Option B is wrong because Balram Singh, also called Balu, was the 18th-century founder of the Ballabhgarh state, long before 1857. Option C is wrong because Ajit Singh was not the ruler of Ballabhgarh at the time of the revolt. Option D is wrong because Gopal Singh was not its last ruler either; the throne in 1857 was held by Nahar Singh. Exam tip: Haryana's 1857 leaders include Rao Tula Ram of Rewari, Raja Nahar Singh of Ballabhgarh and Nawab Abdur Rahman Khan of Jhajjar.

The correct answer is B, I-a, II-d, III-b, IV-c. Sairishaka is the old name of Sirsa, a town mentioned in the Mahabharata. Kanaud, also written Kanod, was the earlier name of Mahendragarh; the town got its present name in the 1860s, when Maharaja Narendra Singh of Patiala renamed its fort after his son Mahendra Singh. Kapisthal, meaning the abode of Kapi, or Hanuman, is the ancient name of Kaithal. Panduprastha, the town of the Pandavas, is the old name of Panipat, which tradition counts among the five villages the Pandavas asked for to avoid war; Sonipat was Swarnaprastha. Option A is wrong because it matches Sairishaka with Kaithal and Panduprastha with Sirsa. Option C is wrong because it gives Sairishaka to Mahendragarh and Kanaud to Sirsa. Option D is wrong because it matches Sairishaka with Panipat and Kapisthal with Sirsa. Exam tip: Sirsa = Sairishaka, Mahendragarh = Kanaud, Kaithal = Kapisthal, Panipat = Panduprastha, Sonipat = Swarnaprastha.

The correct answer is C, Jhumar. The Jhumar dance of Haryana takes its name from the jhumar, an ornament that married women wear on the forehead. It is danced mainly by young married women, often in a circle, with clapping and folk songs to the beat of the dholak and the thali, a brass plate used as a rhythm instrument. It is especially popular in the Bagar region of western Haryana. Because it is a lively women's dance like the Gidda of Punjab, Jhumar is also known as the Haryanvi Gidda, a name that has itself been asked in HSSC papers. Option A is wrong because Ghoomar takes its name from the swirling movement of the dancers, not from an ornament; it is famous in Rajasthan and is also danced in southern Haryana. Option B is wrong because Loor is a dance of girls, performed in the month of Phagun to welcome spring. Option D is wrong because the Gugga dance is performed by men in honour of Gugga Pir, especially around Gugga Navami. Exam tip: Jhumar means a forehead ornament and is called the Haryanvi Gidda; Loor is the girls' spring dance of Phagun.

The correct answer is A, Black Francolin. The black francolin, known locally as kala teetar, is the state bird of Haryana. It belongs to the pheasant family, and the male is easy to recognise by its black face and breast, white cheek patch and chestnut collar, while the female is mostly brown. It lives in grassland, scrub and farmland with tall crops such as sugarcane, and its loud, repeated call is heard mostly at dawn and dusk. Haryana's other state symbols are the blackbuck as the state animal, the peepal as the state tree and the lotus as the state flower. Option B is wrong because the house sparrow is the state bird of Delhi and Bihar, not Haryana. Option C is wrong because the great egret is a large white wading bird of wetlands and is not Haryana's symbol. Option D is wrong because hummingbirds are found only in the Americas and do not live in India at all. Exam tip: Haryana's symbols are black francolin (bird), blackbuck (animal), peepal (tree) and lotus (flower).

The correct answer is B, Endangered species. The Red Data Book is the source book that keeps a record of endangered animals, plants and fungi, so that governments and conservationists know which living species face the greatest risk of dying out. It is linked to the Red List prepared by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), which was founded in 1948 and has its headquarters at Gland in Switzerland. Species at risk are placed in categories such as Critically Endangered, Endangered and Vulnerable, which together are called threatened species. Many countries, including India, also prepare their own Red Data Books for local species, and the Botanical Survey of India compiles one for Indian plants. Option A is wrong because the book is meant to help save living species; extinct species cannot be saved and are not its main record. Option C is wrong because common species are not at risk. Option D is wrong because invasive species, such as water hyacinth, are harmful newcomers and are tracked in separate lists. Exam tip: Red Data Book means endangered species; IUCN is at Gland, Switzerland, founded 1948.

The correct answer is D, a - ii, b - i, c - iv, d - iii. Corbett National Park in Uttarakhand is India's oldest national park; it was set up in 1936 as Hailey National Park and in 1973 became the first reserve under Project Tiger. Sundarbans National Park in West Bengal lies in the Ganga–Brahmaputra delta, has the world's largest mangrove forest and is famous for its swimming Royal Bengal tigers; it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Bandhavgarh National Park in Umaria district of Madhya Pradesh has one of the highest densities of tigers in India, and the white tigers of Rewa were first found in this region. Sariska in Alwar district of Rajasthan lost all its tigers by 2005, and tigers were brought back from Ranthambore from 2008. Option A is wrong because it puts Corbett in Rajasthan and Sariska in Uttarakhand. Option B is wrong because it places Corbett in Madhya Pradesh and Bandhavgarh in Rajasthan. Option C is wrong because it puts Sundarbans in Madhya Pradesh and Sariska in West Bengal. Exam tip: Corbett Uttarakhand, Sundarbans West Bengal, Bandhavgarh MP, Sariska and Ranthambore Rajasthan.

The correct answer is A, one coulomb per second. Electric current is the rate of flow of electric charge, written as I = Q/t, so one ampere flows when one coulomb of charge passes through a cross-section of a conductor in one second. One coulomb is the charge carried by about 6.25 × 10^18 electrons, so even a small current means a huge number of moving electrons. The ampere is one of the seven SI base units, and it is named after the French scientist André-Marie Ampère. Current is measured with an ammeter, which is always connected in series in a circuit, and small currents are expressed in milliamperes or microamperes. Option B is wrong because volt per second is not a unit of current; the volt measures potential difference. Option C is wrong because one joule per coulomb is the definition of one volt, the unit of potential difference. Option D is wrong because second per coulomb is the reverse of current and is not used as a unit at all. Exam tip: ampere = coulomb per second, volt = joule per coulomb, ohm = volt per ampere.

The correct answer is B, Aluminium. Aluminium naturally forms a thin layer of aluminium oxide when it is exposed to air, and this layer protects it from further corrosion. In anodising, the layer is made thicker on purpose. A clean aluminium article is made the anode, the positive electrode, in an electrolytic bath of dilute sulphuric acid, and the oxygen gas released at the anode reacts with the metal to build a thick oxide coat. This coat resists corrosion and scratches and can easily be dyed in attractive colours, which is why anodised aluminium is used for pressure cookers, window frames and many household articles. Option A is wrong because silver does not form a protective oxide coat; it turns black by forming silver sulphide. Option C is wrong because gold hardly reacts with air at all, so it needs no such coating. Option D is wrong because copper, in moist air, gets a green coat of basic copper carbonate, not an anodised oxide layer. Exam tip: anodising means a thick oxide layer on aluminium; galvanising means a coat of zinc on iron.

The correct answer is D, Article 3. Article 3 lets Parliament, by an ordinary law, form a new state by separating territory from a state, join states, and change the area, boundaries or name of any state. Haryana was created this way: Parliament passed the Punjab Reorganisation Act, 1966 on the basis of the Shah Commission's report, and Haryana came into being on 1 November 1966, with Chandigarh made a Union Territory and the joint capital. A bill under Article 3 can be introduced only on the President's recommendation, and the President must first refer it to the legislature of the state concerned for its views, though Parliament is not bound by them. Option A is wrong because Article 239 deals with the administration of Union Territories. Option B is wrong because Article 371 gives special provisions for Maharashtra and Gujarat, such as development boards for their regions. Option C is wrong because Article 1 only declares that India, that is Bharat, shall be a Union of States. Exam tip: new states come under Article 3, with a simple majority; Haryana Day is 1 November.

The correct answer is B, Dialysis. Haemodialysis uses a machine called an artificial kidney to clean the blood of a patient whose kidneys have failed. Blood is drawn from the patient, mixed with an anticoagulant such as heparin so that it does not clot, and passed through fine tubes with a semi-permeable lining that sit in a dialysing fluid. Waste products such as urea pass out through the lining into the fluid, and the cleaned blood is returned to the body through a vein. A person with complete kidney failure needs this treatment regularly, often two or three times a week, unless a kidney transplant is done. The Dutch doctor Willem Kolff built the first working artificial kidney in 1943. Option A is wrong because excretion is the body's own natural removal of wastes, which healthy kidneys perform. Option C is wrong because perspiration means sweating through the skin. Option D is wrong because expulsion only means pushing something out; it is not the name of this treatment. Exam tip: the working unit of the kidney is the nephron, and the artificial kidney process is haemodialysis, which mainly removes urea.

The correct answer is D, Sickle cell anaemia, Haemophilia, Down syndrome. All three are genetic disorders, caused by changes in genes or chromosomes and passed on through birth, not by germs. Sickle cell anaemia is an autosomal recessive disease in which a single change in the haemoglobin gene makes red blood cells sickle-shaped. Haemophilia is a sex-linked recessive disorder carried on the X chromosome, in which blood does not clot properly; it mostly affects males, and it is called the royal disease because it spread among Queen Victoria's descendants. Down syndrome is a chromosomal disorder caused by an extra copy of chromosome 21, also called trisomy 21. Option A is wrong because AIDS is caused by the HIV virus and is not inherited through genes. Option B is wrong because AIDS and Hepatitis B are viral infections, and most cancers come from mutations acquired during life. Option C is wrong because Hepatitis B is a viral infection, even though haemophilia and colour blindness are genetic. Exam tip: genetic disorders include sickle cell anaemia, haemophilia, colour blindness, thalassaemia and Down syndrome.

The correct answer is C, more than the atmospheric pressure. Air always moves from a region of higher pressure to one of lower pressure, so it flows out of the lungs only when the pressure inside them rises above that of the outside air. During expiration the diaphragm relaxes and moves up into its dome shape, and the intercostal muscles between the ribs relax, so the ribs move down and inward. This reduces the volume of the chest cavity, which raises the pressure in the lungs and pushes the air out. Inspiration is the reverse: the diaphragm contracts and flattens, the chest cavity grows, lung pressure falls below atmospheric pressure and air rushes in. Option A is wrong because when the pressures are equal no air moves; this happens for a moment between breaths. Option B is wrong because lower pressure inside the lungs draws air in, which is inspiration. Option D is wrong because contraction of the diaphragm enlarges the chest and causes inspiration, not expiration. Exam tip: inspiration means the diaphragm contracts and lung pressure falls; expiration means it relaxes and lung pressure rises.

The correct answer is C, Public sector undertakings. Maharatna, Navratna and Miniratna are status tags that the Government of India gives to central public sector enterprises on the basis of their size, profits and performance. The Navratna and Miniratna schemes began in 1997, and the Maharatna category was added later as the top tier for the very largest and most profitable companies. A higher tag means more financial freedom: the board of a Maharatna company can approve very large investments on its own, without going to the government for each project. The aim is to let strong public companies compete and expand like private firms, even abroad. Option A is wrong because Special Economic Zones are areas with special trade and tax rules, not grades of companies. Option B is wrong because India's civilian awards are the Bharat Ratna and the Padma awards. Option D is wrong because mineral-rich areas are not graded with such titles. Exam tip: the order from top is Maharatna, Navratna, Miniratna; all three are grades of central PSUs.

The correct answer is B, Cash Reserve Ratio. The Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) is the share of a bank's deposits that it must keep with the Reserve Bank of India in cash, and the bank earns no interest on this money. The RBI fixes the CRR under Section 42 of the RBI Act, 1934, and uses it to control the money supply: raising the CRR leaves banks with less money to lend, while cutting it releases funds into the economy. The ratio is worked out on a bank's net demand and time liabilities, which are mainly its deposits. Option A is wrong because the Statutory Liquidity Ratio is kept by the bank itself, in cash, gold or approved government securities, not deposited with the RBI. Option C is wrong because the Minimum Reserve System is the rule under which the RBI keeps a minimum stock of gold and foreign exchange to back the currency it issues. Option D is wrong because the reverse repo rate is the rate at which the RBI borrows money from banks. Exam tip: CRR is kept with the RBI; SLR is kept by the bank itself.

The correct answer is D, Tariff barriers. Globalisation means the growing integration of countries through trade, investment, technology and the movement of people, and it works by lowering barriers to trade, not by raising them. A tariff barrier is a tax placed on imports to shield domestic producers from foreign competition, so it restricts trade instead of opening it. In India, the 1991 reforms, known by the letters LPG for liberalisation, privatisation and globalisation, cut import duties sharply and opened the economy to foreign companies. Option A is wrong because foreign direct investment, in which a company sets up or buys businesses abroad, grows as countries open up. Option B is wrong because multilateral trade agreements, such as those under the World Trade Organization, are a main vehicle of globalisation. Option C is wrong because outsourcing, like Indian IT and call-centre work done for foreign firms, grew directly out of globalisation and cheap communication. Exam tip: globalisation lowers tariffs and quotas and raises FDI, trade and outsourcing; the WTO replaced GATT on 1 January 1995.